Attorney Park Geon-ho Appears on JTBC, States "Should Have Stopped After Accident and Settled"
"Should Have Gotten Out of the Car and Reached a Settlement"
Legal experts have expressed the opinion that singer Kim Ho-joong, who is accused of drunk hit-and-run, is likely to receive a prison sentence of more than three years.
On the 31st of last month, lawyer Park Geon-ho appeared on JTBC's "Newsroom" and shared this view. Lawyer Park said, "If Kim Ho-joong had gotten out of the car after the initial accident and settled with the victim, it would have ended as a drunk driving case under the Road Traffic Act and could have resulted in just a fine."
However, he explained, "Since he directly called the youngest manager at his agency, adding the charge of aiding and abetting a fugitive, and because fleeing causing injury under the Special Act on Aggravated Punishment (특가법) and failure to take measures after an accident under the Road Traffic Act already include imprisonment, it seems highly likely that he will be sentenced to more than three years in prison."
Singer Kim Ho-jung, who is accused of drunk hit-and-run, was being transferred to the prosecution from Gangnam Police Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 31st of last month. [Photo by Yonhap News]
On the same day, the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul applied charges of dangerous driving causing injury and fleeing causing injury under the Special Act on Aggravated Punishment, drunk driving and failure to take measures after an accident under the Road Traffic Act, and aiding and abetting a fugitive against Kim, and sent him to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Kim Ho-joong, who appeared to head to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, told reporters, "I am sorry. I will speak after this is over," before getting into the escort vehicle. Lee Gwang-deuk, CEO of the agency Saenggak Entertainment, who was involved in concealing the accident, along with Director Jeon and manager Jang, were also handed over to the prosecution together with Kim.
Kim Ho-joong is accused of driving under the influence and fleeing the scene after colliding with an oncoming taxi on a road in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around 11:40 p.m. on the 9th of last month (failure to take measures after an accident under the Road Traffic Act). About two hours after the accident, at around 2 a.m. the next day, Kim's manager Jang wore the clothes Kim had been wearing at the time of the accident and went to the police station, falsely confessing to causing the accident. Kim appeared at the police station at 4:30 p.m. on the 10th, 17 hours after the accident, and admitted to driving.
At the time of the arrest warrant application, the exact blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of Kim could not be determined, so the drunk driving charge was initially excluded. However, the police later used the Widmark formula (a method that calculates the suspect's BAC at the time of the accident by using the suspect's weight and physical condition) and concluded that Kim's BAC at the time of the accident was at the license suspension level (between 0.03% and less than 0.08%), adding the drunk driving charge against him. Furthermore, since Kim was involved in the driver substitution process, the charge was upgraded from aiding and abetting a fugitive to aiding and abetting a fugitive with intent to obstruct justice.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
